A child rapist who posed as a journalist to interview schoolgirls in order to rape them has been given 12 years hard labour.

The 30-year-old man, who was not named, would always operate using the same strategy in which he would approach young girls at tourist attractions such as the Peterhof Palace outside Russia’s second city of St Petersburg in north-western Russia.

He would claim to be a journalist carrying out a report on what people thought of the spectacular surroundings and he would then ask them if they had time for a short chat.

He would then take them to his car where he would then rape them.

Police said that the man was actually employed as a tour guide specifically to work at the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Peterhof Palace and would then pretend to be a journalist when he spotted a victim.

Police say they had at least three complaints from girls who had been raped by him before finally tracking him down, and he will serve a sentence in a prison colony.

All of the victims were under 16 years of age.

The tough sentence for the paedophile was not tough enough for many online with one local writing: “I think they gave him a short sentence. He should have got more.”